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jeffcrom

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Posts posted by jeffcrom

  2. What vinyl are you spinning right now??

    in The Vinyl Frontier

    Posted

    Just returned from an Atlanta used record store that always seems to have amazing gospel records - MG knows the one. Right now I'm listening to Rev. W. Leo Daniels' sermon Looking for a Bargain (Peacock). Also picked up an Ernest Franklin Savoy LP (with Arthur Scales on saxophone), but the real find was a 1971 Glori LP, Brother Vernard Johnson (I guess he wasn't "Dr." yet) with the Washington State Youth Choir, Give Up to God. Sorry, MG.

  4. New Orleans Brass Bands

    in Miscellaneous Music

    Posted · Edited by jeffcrom

    As far as I could tell, there wasn’t a thread about New Orleans Brass Bands. I thought there should be.

    The brass bands of New Orleans aren’t jazz bands, per se. The band craze of the late 19th century hit New Orleans just like everywhere else, but the black and Creole bands of the city started going their own way pretty early on – playing without arrangements, improvising, bringing ragtime elements into the music. Since then, New Orleans brass bands have evolved on a path parallel to the city’s jazz. Many musicians play in jazz groups as well as the brass bands, although they don’t always play the same way in both.

    The first recordings of a New Orleans brass band were made in 1945, in George Lewis’s backyard on St. Philip Street in the French Quarter. (There is actually some 1929 newsreel footage which contains about 30 audible seconds of a black brass band at Mardi Gras. You can hear enough to tell that they were swinging hard by then.) Bill Russell recorded a pick-up band under the leadership of Bunk Johnson for the American Music label. There were ten tunes recorded (plus a throwaway version of “Happy Birthday”); one take of each can be heard on an American Music CD – Bunk’s Brass Band and Dance Band. All the alternate takes have been issued on various CDs in the Jazzology family of labels.

    By the time Bunk’s Brass Band was recorded, the alto and baritone horns had been phased out in favor of alto and tenor saxophone, but Russell wanted to record the old-style instrumentation. And I’m glad he did – these recordings and the records made a year later by the Original Zenith Brass Band (another pick-up band) are the only ones we have using the middle-register brass horns instead of saxes. Bunk’s group played without written music, although things like “My Maryland” were pretty much memorized rather than improvised. The spirituals like “Gloryland” and “Just a Little While to Stay Here” swing hard, and the slow funeral spirituals will sound odd if you’ve never heard an old-style N.O. brass band. On funeral marches, the bands played with wide vibrato, a very loose sense of time, and used odd breath accents to keep the music moving. The old style of playing dirges has pretty much died out now – the bands may still play the same pieces, but the approach is more conventional.

    One of the most interesting pieces from the Bunk session is the traditional returning-from-the-cemetery march “Didn’t He Ramble.” It’s usually played with a conventional four-four swing, but Bunk’s band plays it as a six-eight march. Everybody’s improvising, but it’s not really jazz – although it points slightly in that direction. This track shows, as well as anything else I’ve heard, how the loosening-up of the city’s marching bands was one element in the birth of jazz.

    It wasn’t until 1951 that an established, working New Orleans brass band was recorded. The Eureka Brass Band was larger than the pick-up bands recorded in the forties – three trumpets, two trombones, two saxophones, tuba, snare and bass drum. For the New Orleans Funeral & Parade album (now available on American Music), George Lewis was added on clarinet. The Eureka was, in my opinion, the greatest brass band from the city to record – they’re just magnificent here, as well as on their 1956 Folkways album. Both of these albums feature dirges played as written – beautiful and just odd enough to be exotic. That's leader Percy Humphrey's trumpet soaring over the ensemble in the last chorus of the uptempo pieces.

    The Eureka also recorded a jazzier, hard-swinging album for Atlantic in 1962 which features some of the best recorded work by the great clarinetist Willie Humphrey (Percy's brother). Four years earlier Atlantic had recorded an amazing album by the Young Tuxedo Brass Band, led by clarinetist John Casimir. The Young Tuxedo was a strange and wonderful band – Casimir’s wailing E flat clarinet sounded like a holdover from the earliest days of jazz; it coexisted with the boppish playing of the younger trumpet section. The uptempo tunes from this album are as intense and abandoned as any New Orleans music I’ve heard, while the dirges are both solemn and other-worldly. And they recorded a then-current R & B hit, Shirley and Lee’s “I Feel so Good,” although the album’s producers didn’t recognize it and credited it as “traditional.”

    I’ve pontificated long enough, and I haven’t even gotten to the Olympia Brass Band or the brass band renaissance of the 1980s that spawned the Dirty Dozen and the Rebirth. Join the second line and talk about New Orleans brass bands here.

  6. What 78 are you spinning right now ?

    in The Vinyl Frontier

    Posted

    More early classical recordings on Victor:

    Brahms - Hungarian Dance #5: Stokowski/Philadelphia Orchestra (Victor 10" one-sided Red Seal - 1917). I didn't know until a few minutes ago that this was Stokowski's first recording.

    Grieg - Anitra's Dance: Stokowski/Philadelphia Orchestra (Victor 10" one-sided Red Seal - 1917)

    Gluck - Dance of the Spirits: Stokowski/Philadelphia Orchestra (Victor 12" one-sided Red Seal - 1917)

    Ippolitov-Ivanov - March of the Caucasian Chief/Glazounov - Danse Orientale: Stokowski/Philadelphia Orchestra (Victor 10" electrical Red Seal - 1927)

    Saint-Saens - Le Cygne/Rubinstein - Melody in F: Hans Kindler, cello (Victor 10" blue label - 1916)

    Elgar - Capricieuse: Jascha Heifetz, violin (Victor 10" one-sided Red Seal - 1917)

    and some early crossover:

    The great violinist Fritz Kreisler playing two pop songs: Love Nest and Poor Butterfly (Victor 10" Red Seal - 1917 & 1920)

    Maybe it's the antiquarian in me, but I think these records and performances sound great.

  7. All In The Family

    in Miscellaneous Music

    Posted

    Being a New Orleans aficianado, I instantly thought of

    Prof. James Humphrey, whose son was Willie Eli Humphrey (mentioned by Jelly Roll Morton as an outstanding early jazz clarinetist), whose sons were Willie James Humphrey (clarinet), Percy Humphrey (trumpet), and Earl Humphrey (trombone). There is a at least one recording of the Eureka Brass Band on which all three Humphrey brothers play.

    Brass band alto horn player Isadore Barbarin, whose sons were drummers Paul Barbarin and Louis Barbarin. There are still Barbarins playing in New Orleans - trombonist Lucien is either Louis' grandson or grandnephew - he told me once, but I don't remember. Danny Barker's mother was a Barbarin, too - Isidore's sister, I believe.

    Longtime brass band trumpeter Doc Paulin, whose sons Roderick, Scott, Dwayne, Phillip, and Aaron (and I'm probably leaving some out) all play jazz, funk, and brass band music.

    The father of New Orleans drumming, "Old Man" Louis Cottrell, Sr., was the also the father of the great clarinetist LC, Jr.

    When Preservation Hall opened in the early sixties, trumpeter John Brunious was considered too young to play there. Years later his sons Wendell and John, Jr. (who died fairly recently) played there many times.

    Nicholas Payton's father is the bassist Walter Payton.

    The clarinet-playing Hall Brothers have been mentioned, but there was a third brother, Robert, who was also a clarinetist.

    That's just off the top of my head. Jazz is a family business in New Orleans.

  12. Hip me to some (more) early jazz

    in Recommendations

    Posted · Edited by jeffcrom

    Would it be fair to describe traditional jazz happening in Chicago during this post-30s period as being, if not 'revivalist,' then more swing-oriented than the West Coast stuff going on at the same time?

    .

    I'd say that the Chicago guys (and those associated with them) were playing small-band jazz as they felt it, not looking back to New Orleans. In practice, the rhythm sections were closer to what we would call swing style; the ensembles were loose (no arrangements!), and they definitely liked four beats to the bar.

    The West Coast bands tried to stay "truer" to the New Orleans gospel, somewhat naively, in my opinion. That's not to say that they didn't create some good music (I kind of like Turk Murphy, for example), but they were sometimes pointlessly archaic. A lot of Dixieland bands who think they sound like New Orleans bands really sound like their West Coast "echoes."

    The New Orleans musicians who recorded starting in the 1940s - that's a whole 'nother thing. I'm fascinated by how the ensemble style of the New Orleans recordings from the forties, fifties, and early sixties differs so much from the "classic" New Orleans style of 1920s records by King Oliver, Jelly Roll Morton, etc. In those early records, the instrumental roles are pretty clearly defined - the trumpet (or cornet) played the lead; if there was a second trumpet, it harmonized with the first; the clarinet played high countermelodies and bridged the gaps between the trumpet phrases; the trombone played spare, quasi-bass countermelodies. In the "revival" recordings, there is a much more complex and subtle sharing of roles. At the beginning and end of a piece, the trumpet usually has the lead, but otherwise, any one of the front-line instruments can be playing a first, second, or third part. And they change roles spontaneously between choruses. It's really amazing, and in my opinion demonstrates as well as any other body of recordings how jazz can be populist music and art at the same time. You can really hear this in the long "Midnight Blues" from the Bunk Johnson album you got.

    And there's an album from the 60's that is on G.H.B. - Kid Howard at the San Jacinto Hall - that just kills me. There's hardly a solo on the entire record - it's all ensemble, and almost every chorus has a different relationship of lead, second and third parts among the trumpet, clarinet, and trombone. And you know nobody talked about it beforehand - they just played.

  13. What 78 are you spinning right now ?

    in The Vinyl Frontier

    Posted

    More work on the music room, to the accompaniment of big bands. First, Jimmie Lunceford, in reverse chronological order:

    The "Jimmies"/I Need a Lift (Majestic, 1946)

    Back Door Stuff, parts 1 & 2 (Decca, 1944) Omer Simeon on clarinet!

    I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town, parts 1 & 2 (Decca, 1942)

    Blues in the Night, parts 1 & 2 (Decca, 1941)

    The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down/I'll See You in My Dreams (Decca, 1937)

    Then Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra:

    No Name Jive, parts 1 & 2 (Decca, 1940) Pretty good, swinging record from a band that wasn't considered that hip at the time.

    Memories of You/If I Love Again (Decca) A reissue of two trumpet features; side one, from 1937, is arranged and played by the now-forgotten Sonny Dunham; the 1946 flip features Bobby Hackett.

    Cor - you're lucky I didn't steal that lot :D

    MG

    I feel bad that we didn't get into the 78s when you visited, but my music room was so cluttered that it would have been tough. Now there's actually room for a couple of people to sit and listen.

  14. What 78 are you spinning right now ?

    in The Vinyl Frontier

    Posted

    A bunch of gospel and R & B as I clean/reorganize:

    The Caravans - Tell Him What You Want/Wait for Me (States, 1954)

    The Famous Ward Singers - Anywhere in Glory/Hold Back the Tears (Savoy, 1954)

    The Famous Ward Singers - I'm Climbing Higher and Higher/God's Amazing Love (Savoy, 1955)

    Ray Abrams - Tami's Blues/Sandy (Sittin' In With, 1948) Allegedly with Jay McShann on piano, and it sounds like him on the first side.

    Fats Domino - So Long/When My Dreamboat Comes Home (Imperial, 1955/56)

    Paula Watson - A Little Bird Told Me/Stick By Me Baby (Supreme, 1948)

    Bumps Myers Sextet - Memphis Hop/Forty-Nine-Fifty (Selective)

    Joe Morris Orch. with Al Savage - Just Your Way Baby/I Had a Notion (Herald, 1953)

    Tab Smith - On the Sunnyside of the Street/Darling, You're All I Need (Hub, 1945)

    Tab Smith - Boogie Joogie/Hands Across the Table (United, 1951)

    Tab Smith - Jumptime/Strange (United promo, 1951)

    Joe Houston - Atom Bomb/Windy City Hop (Imperial, 1952

    Willis "Gator Tail" Jackson - Rock! Rock!! Rock!!!/Here in My Heart (Atlantic, 1952) The second side is more exotica than R & B, with Gladys Bruce's wordless vocal.

    Dinah Washington - My Voot is Really Vout/Blues for a Day (Apollo, 1945) Nice solos by Lucky Thompson, Milt Jackson, and Charles Mingus.

    Joe Liggins and His Honeydrippers - Got a Right to Cry/Blue Moods (Exclusive, 1945)

    Joe Liggins and His Honeydrippers - Think of Me/Little Willie (Exclusive, 1945) Side two is a feature for Little Willie Jackson on bari sax.

    Joe Liggins and His Honeydrippers - Rhythm in the Barnyard, parts 1 & 2 (Specialty, 1950)

    Chuck Willis - I've Been Treated Wrong Too Long/Don't Deceive Me (Okeh, 1952)

    Chuck Willis - Change My Mind/Hy Heart's Been Broken Again (Okeh, 1954) This one has nice solos by Fred Jackson and Mickey Baker.

  18. Even a blind man could hear

    in Recommendations

    Posted

    The Complete Ben Webster on EmArcy includes a fabulous 1951 session with the Johnny Otis Orchestra. Webster was featured on three takes of "Stardust," the third of which was released as the master. But they're all fabulous. On take one, Ben doesn't even touch the melody; he's improvising from the get-go. The brief vibes interlude is pretty chaotic, though - the rhythm section doesn't all agree on the chords.

    On the second take, Ben is closer to the melody, but it's pretty intense saxophone playing, and the interlude is more together. This might be my favorite take. On the master, Ben is much more conservative until after the short vibes solo; then he wails - and the cadenza at the end is longer than on the other takes.

    I'm really glad we have all three takes of this.

  21. What 78 are you spinning right now ?

    in The Vinyl Frontier

    Posted

    Lloyd Lambert – King cotton/Heavy juice – Specialty promo 553. New Orleans band led by bass player. Lee Allen probably the incredibly NASTY tenor player. I have a sneaking suspicion the pianist could be James Booker. This disc isn't in the blues or jazz discographies. Hopefully Jeff will know sometrhing about it. The B side is nothing to write home about.

    Well, I don't really know anything about it, except that it was issued in 1955, and that makes it kind of early for Booker to be on piano. Not impossible, mind you, but not really likely - he would have been 15 at the time. Of course, he had recorded his first single by then - Doing the Hambone/Thinking About My Baby for Imperial, but it's kind of "unformed" - not quite his mature style. He was more active in the studios by 1958.

    Sounds like a great 78 listening session.

  22. Cadence back issues

    in Jazz In Print - Periodicals, Books, Newspapers, etc...

    Posted · Edited by jeffcrom

    I'm in the midst of major cleaning/reorganizing of my music room. I decided that, out of the boxes of Cadence magazines I had, I could live without all but half a dozen issues. I'd rather put them into the hands of folks who might enjoy them than throw them out, so I'm giving them away for the price of postage. For those who don't know, Cadence features interviews with (mostly jazz) musicians and tons of record/CD reviews. Here's the deal:

    1. Take a look at the list below; post what you want in this thread.

    2. Send me a PM with your address and the list of what you want.

    3. I'll send you the magazines at my convenience - probably within a week.

    4. When you get the package, note the postage and my return address. Send me a check for the amount of the postage.

    5. If you don't reimburse me for the postage in a timely manner, I will harass and embarrass you.

    In about a week I will throw out any that are left. Condition ranges from mint to okay - all are in one piece and readable. There are to be no complaints about bent corners or barbecue sauce stains.

    January 1981 – Loek Dikker/Woody Shaw/George Morrow

    August 1983 – Nadi Qamar/The Fringe/Larry Gelb

    February 1985 – Betty Carter/Valery Ponomarev

    March 1986 – Kim Parker/Pepper Adams/Kansas Fields

    October 1986 – Roy Porter/Randy Brecker/Anthony Davis

    November 1989 – Seldon Powell/Rodney Richardson

    August 1990 – Houston Person/Irv Kluger

    April 1994 – Teddy Edwards/Willem Beuker, pt. 2

    February 1998 – Steve Swell/Gerry Hemingway

    June 1998 – Buster Williams/David Amram

    August 1998 – Gordon Brisker/Marzette Watts

    September 1998 – Carlos Ward/Floyd Standifer

    October 1998 – Ivo Perelman/Jack Lesberg

    December 1998 – Tyrone Hill Marshall Allen/Matthew Shipp

    February 1999 – Peter Brotzmann/Jeff Williams

    March 1999 – Attila Zoller/Tom Varner

    May 1999 – Mickey Roker/Mat Maneri

    June 1999 – Shorty Rogers & Bud Shank/ Gregg Bendian

    July 1999 – Alan Silva/Michael Weiss

    August 1999 – Michael Weiss pt. 2/James Emery

    September 1999 – Dave Liebman/Jason Hwang

    November 1999 – Ornette Coleman/Gino Robair

    December 1999 – Roy Campbell/Burton Greene

    January 2000 – Gary Burton pt. 1/1999 Record Poll

    February 2000 – Marcus Belgrave/Gary Burton pt. 2

    May 2000 – Greg Osby/Allen Tinney

    September 2000 – Charlie Kohlhase/Bobby Watson

    October 2000 – Don Byron

    November 2000 – Joe Fonda/Joe McPhee

    January 2001 – Lester Bowie/2000 Record Poll

    February 2001 – Randy Weston, pt. 1/Johannes Bauer

    March 2001 – Bob Brookmeyer/Randy Weston, pt. 2

    April 2001 – Cedar Walton/Charles Gayle

    May 2001 – Fred Hersch pt. 1

    June 2001 – Hans Koch/Fred Hersch pt.2

    July 2001 – Dominic Duval

    August 2001 – Kevin Norton/Jon Raskin

    September 2001 - Carlos Zingaro/Gary Peacock pt. 1

    October 2001 – Gary Peacock pt. 2/Larry Ochs

    November 2001 – Pierre Favre/Andre Jaume

    February 2002 – Mats Gustafsson/Hugh Ragin

    March 2002 – Stefon Harris/Fred van Hove

    April 2002 – Jay Rosen/Chris Barber

    August 2002 – Gunter Hampel/Richard Tabnik

    December 2002 – Henry Threadgill/Brenda Bufalino/Biggi Vinkeloe

    January 2003 – Eric Person/Josh Roseman/2002 Record Poll

    March 2003 – Billy Bauer/Rudiger Carl

    April 2003 – Don Cherry/Lauren Newton

    May 2003 – Marian McPartland/Guerino Mazzola

    June 2003 – Marco Eneidi/Idris Ackamoor

    July 2003 – Michele Rosewoman/Rob Reddy

    September 2003 – Joseph Bowie/Scott Fields

    October 2003 – Sal Mosca/Joe Morris

    November 2003 – Malachi Thompson/Matt Turner

    December 2003 – Kidd Jordan/Jim Hartog

    January 2004 – Ahmed Abdullah/Oliver Johnson

    March 2003 – Hamid Drake/Pate Malinverni

    April 2004 – Alvin Fielder pt. 1/Ruth Naomi Floyd

    May 2004 – Paul Dunmall/Alvin Fielder pt. 2

    July 2004 – Howard Johnson/Alex von Schlippenbach

    September 2004 – Henry Grimes/Issi Rozen

    November 2004 – Eddie Higgins pt. 1/Derek Bailey

    January 2005 – Julian Priester/2004 Record Poll

    February 2005 – Barry Altschul/Andy Middleton

    March 2005 – Peter Kowald/Dave Pietro

    April 2005 – Don Friedman/Fred Hess

    February 2006 - Darrell Katz/Ignacio Berroa

    October 2006 - Grachan Moncur III/Kerry Politzer

    November 2006 - Bert Wilson/Jimmie Smith (the drummer)

    January 2007 - Jack Sheldon/2006 Record Poll

  24. What vinyl are you spinning right now??

    in The Vinyl Frontier

    Posted

    Rev W Leo Daniels - The answer to Watergate (sermon) - Jewel

    Rev Clay Evans & the Fellowship Baptist Church Choir - From the ship - Savoy

    Mt Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church Choir - Mt Pisgah remembers Roberta Martin... Live - Jewel

    now

    Dolores Barrett & the Barrett Sisters - Carry me back - Savoy (with cover by Harvey)

    MG

    MG traveled thousands of miles and snatched a couple of these right out from under my nose. I hate him so much....

    This afternoon I've been assembling Ikea bookcases to the accompaniment of:

    Jimmy Smith - Livin' It up (Verve) Inspired by another thread. This is not the Jimmy Smith album I'd take to a desert island, but it's a lot of fun.

    Leo Parker - Rollin' With Leo (BN rainbow) A gift from a friend - thanks, Paul.

    Rev. James Moore - Live (Malaco) An MG recommendation.

    Now I've got to rearrange my overcrowded music room and see where everything is going to fit.

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